Immortal
by Cylina Nightshade
Summary: Vampire Prince Heero has to delve into the world of humans and their wars to save his own world. 1x2
1. Chapter 1

Description: Vampire Prince Heero has to delve into the world of humans and their wars to save his own world. (1x2) Quasi-AU

Rating: T

Stuff: I don't own Gundam Wing

Warnings: violence, blood, gore

Spoiler Warning: Spoilers for the anime/manga, Episode Zero, and Endless Waltz

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

A four person honor guard greeted me as I departed the shuttle into the docking bay. They were sent simply to escort me from the shuttle to the car. Completely ridiculous. While I was quite young for a vampire, less than a century old, the fact that I was born a prince of the Yuy line meant I was much stronger than your average vampire. I certainly didn't require four babysitters to help me to the car. Even if I did happen to be attacked in broad daylight outside of a shuttle port full of bustling human witnesses, I was not alone. My retainer never left my side. Odin Lowe was assigned to me shortly after my birth. The older vampire had been given the task of teaching me how to fight and defend myself, and generally prepare me to eventually take over my father's role as King of Vampires. Some of the court had started to joke about how he was my "nanny", that is, until he finally heard someone say it and ripped out their throat. The nickname died shortly after that.

It had been 8 years since my last visit to this colony. A blink of an eye for an immortal, but a decent enough time for mortals. Despite that though, as I looked out the window I noticed that nothing had changed. L2 was just as much of a run down poor excuse for a colony as it ever was.

The dimly lit alleys filled with multitudes of nameless vagrants no one would miss made the colony prime feeding grounds for vampires; which was why L2 was host to the largest single clan. Their numbers may not rival what could be found on all of Earth, but Earth's vampire population was divided into multiple clans, and there existed no other place in all of the Earth Sphere where such a concentration of vampires could be found.

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><p>As we neared the run down warehouse complex the L2 clan called home, I was surprised to see a six person honor guard waiting for me. I was even more surprised when I was close enough to sense them. My guards at the shuttle port had all been vampires of roughly a few centuries, just old enough to be able to stand sunlight. These on the other hand were much older. I sensed that one or two of them may even be over a millenia in age. The L2 clan had always been exceedingly loyal to the crown and I saw no need for such an excessive guard force especially considering the reason I was here. I had come to this colony simply to check in with the local clan. It was a habit I attempted to upkeep with all clans. My mission here pretty much boiled down to a "meet and greet" and certainly didn't require such a guard force.<p>

I exited the vehicle and with Odin slightly behind me and to the right, I headed down the winding back alleys to the warehouse entrance. I eyed the guards warily as they took up positions around me.

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><p>"Heya, boy, long time no see!" My lips quirked into a slight smile against my wishes at the exuberant greeting. The head of the L2 clan had always adopted a more casual tone around me, much to the annoyance of many more stodgy vampires. I personally found the vampire's mannerisms to be refreshing.<p>

"It hasn't been that long. Though I assume your clan has been doing fine in the meantime?"

"Eh, we've been managing." The clan leader gave a slight shrug of his shoulders causing some of his shoulder-length dirty blond hair to fall in front of his seafoam green eyes. I had never been able to figure out if his hair was that color naturally or if it was the layer of grime. The leader took his cover role seriously. It was generally easier for the vampires of L2 to take on the appearance of one of the many downtrodden and the L2 clan leader, with his appearance of being a human of around 14 years, went with the cover of being a street urchin. He even went so far as to not bathe on a regular basis since nothing would stand out more than a sparkling clean street rat. I raised my eyebrow at him, requesting an elaboration.

"Well, ya know how it is. The feedin's good, but we've been havin' problems with them hunters."

"Ah. Will you require assistance?"

"Nah. Think we can handle 'em fine on our own."

"Don't hesitate to ask if the situation changes."

"Sure, no prob. You gonna be stayin' for dinner? 'Bout time for the drunks to be headin' out. I can get one'a the boys to glam¹ ya one."

"I appreciate the offer but it is not necessary. I shall be heading back shortly."

"Alrighty. See ya around, kid. Don't be no stranger."

"Certainly. Until we meet again, Solo."

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><p>The six guards were still there when I exited the warehouse into the back alleys and once again took up positions around me. Around halfway back to the vehicle, we came around a turn in the alley and there were the four guards from the shuttle port waiting for us. I instantly went on full alert.<p>

Not even a second later I sensed an attack coming from behind me. My attempt to dodge the attack resulted in the silver dagger landing a blow to my lower back, possibly piercing my left lung, but successfully avoiding my heart. My unexpected movement had ripped the dagger out of the attacking guard's hands and it was now lodged in my body. I could feel the burning sensation the silver gave when in contact with my flesh.

I quickly reached around to yank it out and returned it to its owner, via a toss that had it land squarely in the guard's heart. I promptly ducked beneath another guard's attack and kicked out against his legs, upsetting his balance. I grabbed the small dagger from my boot sheath as I shot back upward and performed a spin that allowed me to slit the throat of yet another guard that had been trying to get me from behind.

I was able to spare a moment to note that Odin had taken down one guard and was currently fighting another before I saw a fourth guard bearing down on me. I threw my dagger at him and dropped into a roll when another guard decided to take a page from my book and threw a dagger at me. I successfully choreographed my roll to end near the guard I had just downed and retrieved my dagger from his chest.

Before I had the chance to perform my next move, I heard a gunshot and felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder. I glanced up just in time to see Odin charge the shooter and begin to wrestle for the gun. I then felt a sharp pain in my thigh and saw that the guard I had knocked over previously had shoved a dagger there to the hilt. I responded by jamming my dagger up under his chin.

I heard yet another gun shot and turned sharply, worried about Odin. Just then Odin successfully obtained the gun and shot its former owner in the face. He made his way over near me and it was then that I noticed the growing red stain at his abdomen. Three of the remaining guards started to head towards us with daggers out while the fourth pulled out a gun. "Run! I'll hold them off here. You get somewhere safe!" I hesitated only a moment, unwilling to leave Odin to face four opponents on his own but then the guard with the gun took aim on me and I turned to run.

I heard yet another gun shot but since I felt no new wound, I assumed either the guard missed or it was Odin's shot. I quickly sprinted for the end of the alley. As I turned the corner I glanced toward Odin, just in time to see the guard with the gun shoot him in the temple while another guard bore down on his body to finish the job. I froze on the spot. _No!_ I couldn't believe it. _You can't kill Odin!_ Before I had a chance to turn back though, the guard with the gun once again took aim at me. I quickly ran the rest of the way around the corner and heard the bullet bite into the brick wall near where my head had just been.

I sprinted past the parked vehicle that I had arrived in and picked a direction at random. I heard yet another gun shot but luckily the guard once again missed. I kept running, blindly choosing alley after alley. I jumped fences and took quick turns around buildings. I had no idea how long I ran, but it was still the night cycle when eventually I felt that I had lost my pursuers. I kept going just to be sure.

As I ran I checked the gunshot wound in my shoulder. It felt like a through-and-through so I shouldn't have to worry about poisoning from a silver bullet. The two stab wounds were making me weak but weren't life threatening on their own. I then turned my thoughts toward the events that had just occurred. Attacked by my own guards; I had obviously been betrayed. I could only think of one person who could get the Royal Honor Guard to attack me, and they also were the one who would most profit from my death.

I had been betrayed by the Royal Honor Guard Captain who was also filling the role of Lord Regent until I came of age to ascend the throne. I had been betrayed by Treize Khushrenada.

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><p><strong>-x-<strong>

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><p>-Author's Note-<p>

Thanks for reading!

Reviews are greatly appreciated but I'm not gonna bug people for them. My only request is that if you feel the need to tell me my story sucks, please tell me why you think so, otherwise I'll just assume you're an uncreative troll. Thanks. :)

[1] glam = glamour

I've never written a fight scene like that before. Hopefully it came off as relatively smooth, understandable, and not boring. (Update 1/16/2015: Divided the fight scene into more paragraphs to make it less of a wall-o-text. Hopefully it's a bit easier on the eyes now.)

For the curious (since I couldn't find a good place to put this info in the story), Heero can't become king until he is at least 100 years old.

My own personal thoughts/lore on vampire ages & aging:

Vampires have as much trouble with change as humans do and thus the vast majority don't even make it their first millennia. They either A) have too much trouble adapting, making them stand out too much and thus are found by hunters and killed or B) become weary with trying to keep up with the ever changing world of humans and decide to end their own existence. (Think about how much trouble your grandmother has with modern technology or even accepting modern fashion trends and then multiply that by 10.) The number of vampires slowly tapers off as you near the 1k years mark and practically cliff dives after that. So a vampire that is at least 1,000 years old would be respected. Vampires that are at least 2,000 years old would be uncommon, and vampires that are 3,000 or older would be almost mythical.

As for aging, vampires age mentally and physically the same as humans until they reach puberty, then they stop physically aging naturally. A vampire can then use their powers to continue to physically age but at the expense of being weaker during the aging time. So to many vampires, physically appearing old would be a sign of power. Sort of like displaying you have "power to spare".

The older a vampire is, the more powerful they are (usually). So, a 2k yr old vamp would be stronger than a 1k yr old vamp.

To get an idea of how a vampire would be perceived by another vampire, take their age and divide by 10 to get their age in "human years". So a 600 year old vamp = 60 year old human. (But keep in mind that they age mentally the same as humans. So while a 100 yr old vamp may be treated like a 10 yr old child, they wouldn't have the mentality of a 10 yr old.)

For my own mental timeline, I defined AD 3000 as being when the planet switched over to the AC time measurement.

My own personal thoughts/lore on disabling/killing vampires:

There are two ways to kill a vampire. Removing them from (or destroying) their brain is the quickest. Decapitation of course being the cleanest and most surefire way, but a scatter shot type weapon could work too. The trick would be to make sure the shot destroyed enough of their brain. The other way to kill a vampire is through silver poisoning. It is of course much slower and gives the vampire a chance to remove the silver, thus preventing death.

Other types of mortal wounds would not kill a vampire but could disable a vampire. Stabbing a vampire in the heart for example would "stun" the vampire, effectively taking them out of a fight and giving you a chance to decapitate them.


	2. Chapter 2

Rating: T

Stuff: I don't own Gundam Wing

Warnings: blood, blood drinking

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

As I entered yet another refuse-filled alley, I stumbled in my headlong run. I fell to my knees briefly before collapsing completely face first on the grungy concrete. I knew the colony's day cycle would start soon and understood this to be my end. The colonies replicated sunlight exactly, and while I was normally able to counteract the effects of the sun, I was far too weak in my current state. _I'm sorry Odin. It seems your sacrifice was in vain._

As I laid prone on the alley floor, I heard a quiet rustling sound. I turned my head toward the source of the noise and to my surprise, I saw a small human child start to emerge from amidst a pile of rubbish. The child noticed me and froze, staring. I couldn't help but note that I had never seen such a peculiar color of eyes before. They were the most alluring shade of violet, two sparkling amethysts focused my way. Then the child blinked and started moving again. The small human extracted itself the rest of the way from the rubbish and it was at that point that I noticed the long chestnut hair, well past shoulder-length. Despite the hair though, I was quite certain the child was a boy.

The small boy, who couldn't have been more than 5, possibly 6, years old, slowly looked over what he could see of my form; my blood gradually pooling around me. I saw him nod to himself and then looked me in the eyes again. "You're hurt. I's gotta hidey hole here. You can use it ta get better." Without waiting on a response the petite human child walked up and grabbed my arm just below my shoulder, attempting to pull me towards the pile of rubbish from which he had emerged. I dredged up enough energy to crawl in the direction he was trying to drag me. The child shifted the pile of rubbish and I could make out a hole in the side of the building behind it. It was a tight squeeze, and my weakness made it far more difficult than it should have been, but I made it through. I glanced around and noticed that the inside of the building was partially collapsed. The rubble completely surrounded this small pocket of space and the only access to it being the hole in the wall, which the child quickly covered back up with the rubbish.

"Dun worry. The bad'uns dunno bout this place. Whoever beat ya won't be able to find ya here." The child gave the most disarming smile. I simply nodded my head and rested my battered body on the cool concrete floor. I was promptly unconscious.

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><p>When I came to, the first thing I noticed was a scrap of bread crust and an overripe apple placed on the floor a few inches in front of my face. I glanced around as I sat up and saw the small child sitting cross legged just a few feet from me. He grinned beatifically and cocked his head slightly to the side. "I gots ya some food." The child's expression dimmed slightly and he shifted his eyes to stare at a point on the floor to my left. "Sorry it's not that great. Best I could do."<p>

"It's ok. I don't eat human food."

"Ya don't? I'll take it then!" The child's small hand quickly snatched the bread crust off the floor. A thoughtful expression crossed his face as he began to nibble on the crust. "Whatcha eat if ya don't eat food?"

For the life of me, I don't know why, but I felt compelled to answer that question honestly. The petite, innocent human was simply bewitching, and thus, even though I should have lied, I didn't. "I drink blood."

The child's eyes grew impossibly wide and I knew this would be the moment when he would scramble away from my presence. A pang of guilt passed through me as I realised the boy would probably be too afraid to return to his hiding spot and would have to find a new one. Though as I was thinking that, instead of running, the child continued to sit cross legged across from me. He was staring at his tiny hand with a contemplative look. He glanced back my way and asked, "Does blood taste good?"

I couldn't help it; I laughed. I had never before met a human like this child. "It tastes good to me, but it wouldn't taste good to you, Little One."

"Oh. Well, do ya wanna drink my blood?" And the petite, angelic human offered his arm to me, hand open and wrist facing upward.

It was my turn for my eyes to widen. Such an earnest offer given with no hesitation. The simple thought of drinking his blood made the Hunger grow. I had gained back some of my strength from resting, but I would really need to feed to recover fully, and here was an offer of blood freely given. I hesitated still, not wanting to frighten the child. "Are you sure?"

The child shrugged his diminutive shoulders. "Does it hurt?"

"It would, but for only a moment. Then I'm told it feels rather pleasant."

"Ok." The child crawled closer so that he would be within reach and once again presented his arm, wrist upwards.

I gently grabbed the delicate wrist and leaned towards it. The child gave a small wince as my fangs pierced the sensitive skin, but then as the blood started to well up and I tenderly began to suckle, he relaxed. His eyes drooped to half-mast and a small grin graced his features. I very carefully monitored his well being. With the child's lifestyle of having to scrounge for scraps of food, he was probably not at full health to start with, so taking his blood was a delicate procedure. I did not want to harm the child by taking too much.

I had to stop myself long before the Hunger wanted to, but I had reached the point where the child could not handle any more. I gently lapped the pierce marks, causing them to heal over. The small boy was barely conscious and I guided him to lay down on the floor, cupping his head to prevent injury. With the child sleeping soundly, I slowly made my way out of the hiding place.

I took stock of my body. Between resting and feeding, my wounds had fully healed. I was not 100% yet, but I was certainly more than functional. I had regained enough of my powers that I would once again be able to sense others of my kind, so I felt safe wandering around the colony again.

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><p>It had taken me longer than I would have liked to finally find what I was looking for but I now headed back to the secret hiding place with my prize. It took a bit of maneuvering but I was able to make it through the entrance hole one handed with my prize intact. I placed the travel container filled with lentil soup next to the slumbering child.<p>

I watched the child sleep for a moment, observing how the delicate chest rose and fell as the boy breathed. This small human child had saved my life, asking nothing in exchange. A bowl of soup seemed far too inadequate as repayment.

I reached forward and reverently brushed the bangs out of the child's face. To find such a pure, unsullied being in such a place as this was a surprise. To find a human like this one was rare enough, but to find one in the squalor of L2 I would have never believed possible. Before I was even aware I was doing it, I had pricked my forefinger on my fang and began to draw a rune on the child's forehead with my blood. I focused my being, pulling my powers to me. My eyes began giving off a cobalt blue glow. "Ex viribus humani hanc meam amodo usque in sempiternum."¹ The rune glowed bright red briefly before fading completely, signifying the spell taking hold. Now no vampire weaker than me would be able to harm the child, and since vampires stronger than me were practically non-existent, the child would most likely be safe from all vampires for the rest of his life. Though I did hope Solo would be able to sense my claim spell and take the boy under his wing. Protecting the child from becoming prey to vampires didn't prevent the child from becoming prey to humans.

I had to leave soon. I had undoubtedly been detected during my wandering earlier looking for food for the child. While I had avoided coming too close to any vampire, they would still be able to sense my presence in general even though they would not have been close enough to sense my specific location. Treize's troops had certainly been informed of my continued existence by now and would be searching for me to finish the job. I would have to leave before I led them to this location.

"Thank you, Little One." I took what I assumed was my last look at the small human child and then left. I wasn't sure where I was going but I was sure of one thing; if I was going to get my revenge on Treize I would have to prepare and plan.

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><p><strong>-x-<strong>

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><p>-Author's Note-<p>

Did everyone figure out who the amethyst-eyed L2 street urchin is? :P

I started to get sick of the word "innocent" but there's really no good synonyms for that word. :(

[1]"Ex viribus humani hanc meam amodo usque in sempiternum." - Hopefully this translates to something like "By my powers, I claim this human as mine from now until eternity" since that's what I asked Google Translate to tell me, but since I don't know a stitch of Latin, for all I know Heero could be saying "I crave purple gummi octopi."


	3. Chapter 3

Rating: T

Stuff: I don't own Gundam Wing

Warnings: violence, language, references to child prostitution, references to rape, deaths of minor characters

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

_Duo's POV_

I had decided I was going to spend my evening camped out by Big Jerry's shop. It was a risk but it usually paid off. Big Jerry's was in "that" part of town, you know? The part where it didn't matter that I was only a 6 year old boy. Though don't get me wrong, I wasn't there to pick up Johns. I was never into that shit no matter how much my life sucked. No, I was there for the easy pickpocketing. You'd be surprised how many didn't notice you're robbing them blind when they're more focused on trying to cop a feel. The risk was that Big Jerry felt my presence scared off customers. So if he saw me he'd send out some of his boys to "discourage" me, and by discourage I mean beat the shit out of me.

I was watching the few pedestrians walking the street, judging their potentials as marks, when this blond kid arrived. He was walking along with his head down watching the sidewalk minding his own business when suddenly his head shoots up and he stares right at me. Pretty weird, right? He started to head right towards me, not breaking eye contact the whole time. I wasn't sure if the guy was even blinking. Anyways, the kid certainly freaked me out a bit and so I did what you should always do when something in that part of town freaks you out, I up and hauled ass.

Now let me tell you, I may have been a scrawny kid but don't doubt my ability to run. I was one fast little shit. Thing is, that blond kid was one determined mother fucker. I'd never had someone give me such a run for my money before. I think the guy chased me over half the damn colony. It certainly made me even more freaked out the longer the chase went. I hadn't even stolen anything from the guy yet! It took clear through the rest of the night cycle and a third of the day cycle before I finally ditched the freak. Just to be sure though I went to one of my back up places instead of my main place. I was pretty pissed off by the time I curled up to sleep. I was fucking exhausted from my trek all over L2 and I'd only gotten to rob three people. As I entered the world of dreams I had one final thought go through my head; I really hoped that was the last time I saw the kid with dirty blond hair and seafoam green eyes.

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><p>I couldn't catch a fucking break. I tried to vary which times I went out and what places I hit but I always ended up being chased to hell and back. I was followed by the blond kid twice more but it seemed like he was part of a gang or something because even if I didn't run across him there was always someone trying to catch me. I hadn't had a good haul in over a week! It was even worse than the time I nicked the local crime lord's family heirloom watch. Hey, I thought it'd be fun. How was I suppose to know the thing'd been in his family for nine generations?<p>

I was actually starting to worry. Between all the running and not being able to steal much, I was starting to get weak. I really needed to eat something soon.

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><p>It was the third time I met up with the blond kid when my luck finally ran out. I gave it my best try, going down this alley that had a nice, tall chain link fence I could normally use to get people off my tail, but this time it didn't work out as I'd hoped. I was halfway up the fence when the edges of my vision started to grey. It was all I could do to simply hold on to the fence. I heard footsteps pounding down the alley behind me and knew I was caught. <em>I really hope these freaks aren't pervs.<em> I could feel myself lose grip on the fence as my vision went to black.

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><p>The first thing I noticed when I came to was that, well, that I came to. So they obviously hadn't murdered me in my sleep. The second thing I noticed was a pain in my skull pounding in time with the beat of my heart, meaning I probably hadn't been drugged. There were no other pains, so I probably hadn't been raped either. Finally, and the strangest of all, I noticed I was actually comfortable.<p>

A quick glance around showed me I was in what seemed to be a storage room. I was on top of a somewhat dirty but still nice blanket with another covering me, and I was warm. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a hideaway that was actually warm.

A soft click was all the warning I had before the door to the storage room swung open and the blond kid who had become the bane of my existence over the past week entered the room. He was carrying something in his hand but I couldn't really make out what it was from where I sat. He noticed I was awake and smiled.

"You're a tough little shit to catch, you know that, kid?"

"That's sorta the point. An' I never asked you to try ta catch me so why're you complainin' ta me about it?"

The blond boy laughed. "Well, ya certainly have a point there."

He walked across the room to me and I started to edge backwards. "Hey, ya don't gotta be afraid of me. I'm just giving ya this for your head. You smacked it dang good when you fell off that fence." It was then that I made out that what he held in his hand was a bag of ice wrapped in a towel. I let him get near enough to hand over the ice pack and then he took a few steps back but didn't leave the room.

I eyed him warily. "What do ya want with me?"

"I want ya to join my clan."

"Clan? What the fuck's a clan? And just so ya know, don't be gettin' no ideas if you're a pimp. I'll cut off your balls before I let ya sell me."

The blond kid laughed again and mumbled something to himself that sounded like, "He sure knows how to pick 'em." He returned to speaking so I could hear him when he replied, "Dun worry. I ain't no pimp. And a clan.. uhh.. guess you could call it a gang. We just kinda hang out and look out for eachother, ya know?"

"And why do ya want me to join your gang?"

"It's a favor to a friend."

I just stared into his seafoam green eyes. _A favor to a friend? What the fuck does that mean? No one tries ta give ya somethin' for nothin'._ "And what would ya expect me ta do once I'm in your gang?"

"Jus' the same as everyone else. Look out for eachother. Maybe help with gettin' supplies once in awhile. We'll look out for you too."

It was right then that my stomach decided to make known that I hadn't fed it properly in over a week. I couldn't help but blush.

The blond kid gave another smile and yelled toward the open door, "Hey, Jen, did Chase get back yet?" I heard a female voice respond with a faint 'yeah'. "Well, what's he waitin' on. Have him come in here already!" Barely any time later another kid entered the room with a small white paper bag in his hand. He handed it over to the blond boy and then hurried back out. "Here ya go, kid. Enjoy." The blond boy tossed the bag to me.

I opened it to find a bag of potato chips and something wrapped in thin white paper. The object in the white wrapping turned out to be the most delicious looking turkey sandwich I had ever seen in my life. I promptly started to devour it.

"Hey! Slow down, kid. Dun gotta eat so fast. We ain't gonna take it from ya." The blonde boy chuckled. I slowed down, but kept my eyes on him to make sure he didn't come near me or my sandwich.

When I had finished all the food, I started to feel drowsy. A thread of panic went through me before I took stock that it was natural drowsiness and not drug induced. I couldn't hide the yawn.

"Go ahead 'n sleep, kid. You're safe here. I'll have the boys get ya something more ta eat when ya wake back up." The blond boy started to head to the door before pausing to call over his shoulder. "Oh, if ya need anything just ask any of the gang ta find me. The name's Solo." And with a jaunty wave he left the room.

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><p>I was surprised how quickly I adapted to being part of Solo's gang. I had been on my own for as long as I could remember so I figured it would take some getting use to, but it didn't take long before it seemed like I had always been a part of the gang. I kept up my pickpocketing, but Solo never let me go into any of the <em>really<em> bad parts of town anymore. I even occasionally caught one of the guys keeping an eye on me even when I was in the "ok" parts of the town. I always gave my pickpocketing haul to Solo. I guess he divided it up between the gang or something, but they let me keep any food I stole. I didn't even _have_ to steal food anymore, because the gang got me three fresh meals a day. I was in heaven! I was certainly glad I never had to go scrounging in dumpsters outside of restaurants anymore.

I don't know if it was because the rest of the gang was all older than me, the youngest being around 12 or so, but I quickly became sort of the gang's "mascot". It seemed they all were trying to look out for me, and I had no shortage of hair mussings whether I wanted them or not. I spent most my time following Solo everywhere he went. The rest of the gang started to jokingly call me Duo.

The only thing I could wish for was that Solo would tell me who his friend was for which he was doing the favor of taking me in, but any time I asked, Solo would just tell me that if I hadn't been told already, it wasn't his place to say.

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><p>It all went to hell on a gloomy day the L2 colony had a scheduled "rain". The weather system on L2 never was the best, and the rain sprinklers never worked well. They gave off more of a mist than anything at all. I always wondered why the colony even bothered with rain since it wasn't like L2 had actual plants like the other colonies, but I had been told it was something to do with cleaning. Not like that reason actually made sense though; L2 was filthy whether it "rained" or not.<p>

Solo was out doing whatever he did when he didn't let me follow him, and I was hanging out in my "room", the little corner of the storage room I had originally woken up in. I was busy trying to do a workbook Chase had gotten me that was meant to teach me how to spell when I heard a commotion out in the main part of the warehouse. When I went to see what was going on all I could make out was chaos. Some of the gang were practically carrying others into the main room, and there were gang members laying on the floor all over. Most of them looked even paler than usual.

Over the next few days, they gradually all got weaker. I didn't know what it was but it seemed most the gang had caught some sickness. I kept asking what was wrong, but they ignored my question. The only time someone answered, they had said something about "colloidal silver" in the weather system, but I had no idea what that was suppose to mean. I ended up just hanging out with Solo in his room holding his hand hoping he'd get better but watching as he gradually got worse.

It was nearly a week. I never could get Solo to eat any of the food I offered, and no matter what he never seemed to get better. Just short of a week after the strange outbreak, he closed his eyes never to open them again.

Solo always told me that boys don't cry. So I tried to keep the tears inside as I cradled his head in my lap. I'm not sure I succeeded.

* * *

><p>Sometime that same night, I heard another commotion in the main room, but I just couldn't gather the will to bother finding out what was going on. I eventually heard the door slam open and what sounded like multiple people rush in the room. I looked up to see an older man and a younger man, neither of which I knew, standing just inside Solo's door. The younger man seem startled at first to see me before gaining a determined expression and started to walk towards me. It was then that I noticed the gleaming, blood covered dagger he held in his hand.<p>

The older man hadn't moved from the door, just watching the younger man approach me. Just as the younger man reached me and pulled back his arm holding the dagger, the older man called out, "Wait!" He quickly left his position by the door and came near. He kneeled down in front of Solo and me, gripped my chin with his weathered hand, and tilted my face towards his. He seemed to be staring at my forehead. "I'm sensing a claim spell. I think this one may be human."

The younger man looked back in my direction, mouth agape. "You mean the monsters were keeping a kid as a pet? The sick fucks."

The older man removed a necklace, and bade me to loosen my grip from Solo so he could hand it to me. I took the necklace from him and looked down at what I held in my palm. It was a small silver cross. I looked back up at the older man, wondering what he meant for me to do with the necklace.

It was the younger man who spoke first. "Shit! The kid really is human. What do you want to do with him, Father?"

The older man gave him a stern look. "Why are you even asking? We'll take him back to the orphanage like all the other children we've come across while hunting. Just because this one was claimed instead of merely being a victim at the wrong place and time doesn't change a thing." I didn't want to, but the older man eventually convinced me to let go of Solo and stand up. Using one arm just below my rump, he lifted me up. He place his free hand on the back of my head and directed my face into the crook of his neck. I couldn't see anything as we left the warehouse, but the silence of the place was deafening.

* * *

><p>I guess I fell asleep while the old man carried me because I only vaguely remember a car ride. I don't even remember getting out of the car either. I eventually woke up at some point to find myself on a small cot bed. The bed I occupied was only one of many, lining both sides of a long narrow room. Each bed had a small foot locker situated on the floor in front of it. I was completely alone in the room of beds.<p>

As I got out of the bed, I felt something in my hand. I still had the silver cross the older man had given me. I stuck the necklace in my pocket and continued with my explorations. Once in the hallway, I could hear a slight humming. I followed the lyrical tones and found myself in what appeared to be a laundry room. A short, robust woman was folding items before setting them in a basket.

I entered the room, figuring she could probably tell me where I was at least. "Umm… hello?"

The woman started, yelling, "Oh glory be!" She saw that it was only me and calmed down. "Good heavens, child. You'll scare a poor woman to death sneaking up like that."

"Sorry? Umm… could ya tell me where I am?"

"You must be the poor thing Father brought in last night. You're at Father Maxwell's orphanage. Now that you're awake he'll want to talk to you. Come on. I'll take you to his office." The woman grabbed my hand and bustled me through the halls.

The woman took me up to a large, dark wooden door. I hate to admit it, but the thing was sort of intimidating, even if it was only a door. She rapped smartly on the door and waited for the quiet "come in" before pushing the door open and depositing me inside.

I found myself alone in the room with the older man I met the night Solo had died. The man gave me a small warm smile while motioning for me to sit in one of the chairs facing his desk. Once I was seated, he promptly began to talk. "I'm sure you have questions, child, so I'll try my best to explain everything. I'm Father Maxwell and this building is a church and orphanage I run. You're welcome to stay here until we find your family to reunite you."

I gave the man a questioning look. "My family? But I was with my family when ya found me."

The man gave me a sharp stare. I started to feel a bit uncomfortable and began squirming in my seat. Father Maxwell finally said, "I think you'll need to explain more to me, child."

"Well, ya see, Solo and his gang were my family. I never had no family before Solo took me in." I took a deep breath to try to calm myself. _I will not cry. Solo says boys don't cry._ "Though, Solo's dead now. He got sick 'bout a week ago and he never got better. Solo was the one ya found me with."

Father Maxwell was quiet for a long moment. "So, you're saying that… boy we found you with and his… gang were your family?"

"Yeah. So ya can just take me back to Solo's place. I know a few of the gang didn't get sick. I can go stay with them."

The man seemed to have a slight puzzled expression on his face. "I'm sorry, child. They aren't… there anymore."

"Huh? They moved? But, how'm I suppose to find 'em now? I gots no other place ta stay. Use ta live on the street but I'm sure all my places got taken over by others by now."

"This is an orphanage, child. If you have no other family then you will stay here."

I could feel a slight blush on my cheeks. "Umm… I dunno what an orphanage is."

Father Maxwell gave a small chuckle. "It's pretty much just that, child. An orphanage is a place for children with no families to stay and be cared for."

"So, you're sayin' you're gonna feed me?" I suddenly got suspicious. "I don't gotta do nothin' I wouldn't wanna, do I?"

The Father laughed outright at that. "Well, you may have to do the occasional chore, but that's it. What's your name, child?"

"M'name's Duo."

"Well, Duo, it's nice to meet you. I'll call Sister Helen to help get you settled."

* * *

><p>I didn't have to wait long before the short, robust woman was back. She gave me an enthusiastic kiss on the forehead and welcomed me to the orphanage before leading me out of Father Maxwell's office. She brought me to another room where she gathered me a few changes of clothes, then led me back to the room of beds. She pointed out which bed was going to be mine and showed me how to open and lock my foot locker, while placing all but one set of my new clothes inside. After my bunk was all set up, the woman, who kept insisting I call her Sister Helen even though she wasn't my sister, led me to yet another room. This room had a large ceramic tub on one side of the room, and I had no idea what the room's purpose was. Sister Helen set aside my remaining change of clothes and quickly turned some knobs near one end of the tub and water started to pour out, slowly filling the tub. I was amazed. I'd never seen so much water in one place before.<p>

I blame the novelty of the water for my distraction because before I knew it, Sister Helen was stripping me out of my dingy rags I called clothes. I admit it, I sort of freaked. In my experience, it was never a good thing when people you just met try to rip your clothes off. That woman must've been fucking magic though because no matter how I fought I couldn't do anything and before long she had me buck naked and tossed in the tub. She promptly grabbed a washcloth and a bar of soap and began to scrub. When she got to washing my hair, I decided it was kind of nice actually.

After making sure I was all clean for probably the first time in my life, Sister Helen helped me get out of the tub and draped a huge fluffy towel over me, rubbing it all over. I got dressed in my new clothes, and she grabbed a hair brush to start working on taming the knotted mess on my head. When she grabbed the scissors though, I nearly ran. She tried to convince me, but I'm a stubborn little shit when I want to be and eventually she gave up on trying to cut it. Sister Helen ended up doing something to it she called braiding, to help keep it from knotting so much. I sort of thought it looked girly, but if it kept her from cutting it then what the hell, right?

* * *

><p>Living at the orphanage was very different from living with Solo. Some things were better and some things I didn't like so much. My favourite was meal time. All the kids would gather in this big room with this really long table. There were matching long benches on either side of the table so everyone could squeeze on together and all eat at the same time. It was great! The guys in Solo's gang never would eat with me, always going off on their own. It always made meal times with the gang lonely, but here I got to talk to everyone! Though Jimmy stopped sitting next to me because I always snuck bites of his mashed potatoes, and Krissy wouldn't sit next to me because I'd never share my pudding with her. Who shares pudding anyways?<p>

What I didn't like were the chores. I'd always be told to dust the church pews or help Sister Helen fold laundry or whatever else they could think of for me to do for punishment. It wasn't even my fault I got in trouble so much! One day I got in trouble when "Christopher" started crying because I kept calling him Chris. It's the same thing! One's just shorter and easier to say!

And how was I suppose to know you shouldn't nick the stuff off the altar? They shouldn't have it sitting out like that if they didn't want anyone to take it. Luckily Sister Helen has stopped yelling at me whenever I bring her my haul. She tried for awhile. Even made me wax all the pews after one time I brought her all the stuff. My arms hurt for a whole week after that one. Finally she said something like, "Well at least you're returning it all", and ever since then only gave a long sigh each time.

I knew I could always just stop stealing, but there wasn't much else to do in this place. The other kids got along with me just fine, but I guess I was just not use to kids my age. Whenever I was around them it usually just made me miss being back at the warehouse with the gang.

Other than stealing, my favourite game was trying to sneak up and scare the marks, or "mommies and daddies" as Sister Helen would call them. The couples who visited looking for a kid to adopt generally were all sorts of quiet and boring. They had to have appreciated my efforts in spicing up their life! Sister Helen would try to tell me that I'd never get adopted if I kept that up, but who would want to get adopted by people who were so boring? I'd probably end up dying of boredom, and anyways, I would have prefered staying with Sister Helen and Father Maxwell. Though this sneaking up on people thing was kind of fun. Maybe I should start doing it to the other kids too instead of just waiting on the visiting parents?

* * *

><p>Suzy was the one who ratted me out. I should have known she'd be a snitch. You'd think she would have just kept quiet about it but nooo. The frisbee had been up there for weeks now and it was obvious that it wasn't going to come down anytime soon. I figured I would just go up there and get it. Certainly didn't look that hard. All I had to do was climb up the first floor window, grab onto the second floor window and pull myself up, then a small leap over to the stone pig thing on the corner of the roof. Sister Helen kept saying the stone pig thing was called a gargoyle but it really just looked like a pig thing to me. Once I had ahold of the stone "gargoyle" then it'd be a piece of cake to pull myself up to the roof. I'd been climbing things all over the church; it was one of the best ways to scare people. No one ever suspected you to jump out of somewhere they didn't think you could get to in the first place. It was just as I had got one of my feet on top of the pig thing's head to push myself the rest of the way up when I heard Suzy scream. I glanced down just in time to see her run into the church. I didn't think anything of it and just went ahead and got the frisbee. I tossed it down to Kyle who was yelling about how that was, "The coolest thing I have EVER seen!"<p>

I was just walking around the edge of the roof seeing if I could make out any buildings I recognised in this part of town when Sister Helen ran out with Father Maxwell not far behind her. I heard Sister Helen gasp and when I looked her way I saw her holding a hand to her breast. "Oh God in heaven! Duo, get down here this instant before you break your neck!" Father Maxwell was oddly quiet in comparison to the racket Sister Helen was making.

I shrugged my shoulders and made my way over to the pig thing. I held on with my arms and dropped my legs down to dangle below me. I knew the next step would be the tricky part. I started to swing my legs back and forth. I had to get enough momentum that I could reach the second floor window sill. I timed my swing and let go. I heard Sister Helen scream but paid no attention to it as I grabbed the window sill and then quickly scrambled to better my grip. Then it was no time at all to clamber my way down the windows and drop onto the grass ground below.

Sister Helen instantly ran over to smother me in a bear hug. I think she was even crying. Father Maxwell was just kind of staring at me. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was sizing me up. It was just like the look I use to see on some of the guys on the street just before they got in fights.

* * *

><p>I was "grounded" for an entire week after the frisbee thing. Those church pews have probably never been cleaner. It was on the last day of my enforced servitude that Father Maxwell approached me. He told me he wanted me to follow him, and since I figured whatever he wanted had to be better than polishing church pews, I followed. He led me to a back hallway of the church. I knew this particular hallway well since it had the only locked door in the whole building. That door had been the focus of many hours of thoughts, wondering what could possibly be behind it. I felt a thrill of excitement when Father Maxwell walked passed all the boring doors and pulled out a key from his pocket. He went straight to the mystery door, opened it, and bade me to follow.<p>

The door opened onto a dimly lit spiral staircase leading down. I trailed my fingers along the wall as I descended. The stairs let out into a large windowless room. In the center of the room there were a pair of men I didn't know but vaguely recognised from seeing them pass through the orphanage hallway. They seemed to be fighting each other using wooden sticks, but no one else seemed to be taking note of them or trying to stop them so I guessed it was some sort of game. Covering the sheet metal walls of the room were various metal objects, plenty of knives of various shapes and sizes along with many other things I didn't recognise. The long thin metal things I guessed were swords. They matched the description Sister Helen gave during some story she read us a few weeks back.

I stared at all the new sights until I heard a mildly sneering voice ask, "What's the pet doing here?" I looked to the owner of the voice and saw the younger man that had accompanied Father Maxwell the night I met him.

Father Maxwell yelled back, "Mikhael! I will not hear you calling him that again! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Father."

By now the two fighting men had stopped and stood facing Father as well. Father Maxwell turned slightly to include them in what he said next. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Duo. He is going to be training here from now on. I expect everyone to make him feel welcome."

One of the men in the center smiled at me while the other yelled over, "Nice to meet you, Duo!" I grinned at the both of them.

* * *

><p>Whenever I wasn't sleeping, eating meals with the other kids, or in lessons with Sister Helen, I was in the basement room practicing with different weapons. The guys had tried to teach me many of them but some just weren't my thing, you know? Daggers were easy. I'd already had some practice with daggers. If you could get your hands on one, they were really useful for keeping off pervs. I also took to the handguns. I didn't like the swords. They just seemed awkward. And what was the point of throwing stars? A good dagger is better than a throwing star any day.<p>

Today Mikhael was teaching me how to make bullets. I was busy keeping an eye on the silver ingots as they melted over the electric burner. The stuff stank pretty bad even though this part of the room was set up with an exhaust fan and ventilation. I also had to make sure my braid didn't hit or fall in anything as I turned my head to watch Mikhael remove some bullets we poured a bit earlier from their molds. He held one up to eye level to inspect it. "Perfect. The monsters won't know what hit 'em." I'd gotten use to Mikhael talking about 'monsters' though I really had no idea what he was talking about. The other guys never gave him odd looks when he said it so I figured he wasn't a crazy like the old guy I met who lived in the alley off 5th Street. The one time I had asked him what he was talking about he simply told me, "Just like that thing we found you with." It took me awhile to figure out he was talking about Solo, and when I did I was even more confused. Why would he call Solo a monster? I never did bother asking him to explain it again.

* * *

><p>Everything changed the day the rebels took shelter at the church. They yelled at Father Maxwell and even hit Sister Helen! I told them I'd get them what they want if they'd just promise to leave afterwards.<p>

Getting into the Alliance base was pretty damn easy. The fuckers tried to shoot me a few times but I made it to the mobile suit transport unscathed. It was a simple matter to hop in and drive off.

My eyes went wide when I made it back to the church. The church… the church was burning…

"Father Maxwell! Sister Helen! Suzy! Jimmy!" I started calling the names for everyone I knew. The smoke was making my voice hoarse and my throat ache.

I heard someone say my name. I turned and saw Sister Helen laying on the ground. I ran over and kneeled next to her. I told her I'd find a doctor but she stopped me. She told me the Alliance attacked the church.

It looked like it took all her strength to lift her arm. She placed it on my cheek. "M-May you... have God's… blessing…" Her hand fell limp.

Solo always told me that boys don't cry. I'm not sure I succeeded.

* * *

><p><strong>-x-<strong>

* * *

><p>-Author's Note-<p>

This one chapter has more words than the other 2 chapters combined, but you can never have too much Duo. ^-~

Writing 6 year old Duo just plain made me depressed. I felt like such a bitch making his life suck so much. No kid should live like that. :(

(Yes, yes, I know he's a fictional character in a fictional story. Stop looking at me like that!)

Writing Solo's and Duo's lines were harder than I expected. Kept having to say them out loud to hear how they sounded and thus could only really work on this when I was by myself to keep from making people think I was crazy.

If it somehow wasn't clear, yes, Father Maxwell and his assistant totally killed off Solo and his entire clan. Also, I totally feel evil for having one of Duo's families kill the other, but I just couldn't help myself.

I really hate the death scenes in this chapter. I have a complete lack of ability to write angst and the death scenes just seemed to fall flat. Sorry. :(

Also, I'm not happy with this title. Had kinda spur-of-the-moment decided to upload my two completed chapters but when I went to upload them I noticed my story still had it's stand-in title of "vamp heero" and that certainly wouldn't do. Immortal was just the first vaguely vampiry thing that popped into my head.


	4. Chapter 4

Rating: T

Stuff: I don't own Gundam Wing

Warnings: violence, language

**AN: Back to Heero POV**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<p>

It was actually pretty common (more common than most vampires would be willing to admit) that the longer a vampire lived, the more likely they were to pick up a few odd… hobbies. My father was no exception to this. One of his most whispered about hobbies was what was referred to as his "human zoo". Now, that was a bit of a misnomer. My father didn't go around locking humans away in cages. It was more of a compound, such as a small self contained city, and the humans were able to enter and leave at will. There were actually quite a number of them scattered about the Earth Sphere, but the compounds weren't just for any human, they were only for the truly unique.

During my father's travels around Earth and the colonies tending to his royal duties, any time he came across a human who was particularly interesting or unusual, he would offer them living accommodations at one of his compounds. Not only that, but they would pretty much have their every wish provided to them. The only requirement was that they would occasionally have to visit my father at his leisure to discuss any projects, activities, or plans they had been working on, or give a display of whatever physical feat they had done to catch my father's eye.

For the most part, I had simply ignored the existence of any of my father's more eccentric hobbies, but I found myself now being quite thankful for this particular one. I remembered my father being rather enamoured with this one particular human, who seemed to also be enamoured of the ability to use the royal coffers to fund any research or project he wanted to do. So now I found myself heading to one of my father's compounds located on the L1 colony to meet with the strange human who simply went by the name Doctor J.

* * *

><p>The car dropped me off outside the nondescript house at the edge of what all the other human residents of L1 thought was simply a high class gated community. I had only been here once before, and the house looked as lived in as the last time, that being not at all.<p>

I made my way through to the "basement" door and entered the discrete elevator. Most of the humans in my father's "collection" were happy enough with simple, normal houses and every expense paid, but Doctor J had wants just as unique as the man himself. He had requested a laboratory to be built to his specifications. He compromised on the above ground house when it was pointed out that a facility style structure would stand out and gain unnecessary attention when located in a gated community.

The elevator door opened with a light ding noise and I stepped out into the brightly lit, long metal hallway. I really hoped I could find the old man in what was considered the main lab because I had seen floorplans of this place when it was first being built and it was vast. I really had no idea how much of the sub-colony space was actually used, but I knew that it was a winding, maze-like structure, allowing for outside workers access to colony-specific pipes, wiring, and other structural things while not requiring access into the lab itself. I simply hoped the place hadn't been remodeled or had any additions since the time I saw the plans.

The door to what had been on my previous visit and hopefully still was the main lab slid open with a quiet whoosh sound and I stepped into the room. There were mechanical parts and papers scattered about the room on every available surface. Near the center of the room, I saw Doctor J, his back facing me, slightly hunched over as his attention was focused on whatever was on the table in front of him. I stepped farther into the room; the door shut with a slight snik noise, making Doctor J straighten and turn to face me.

"Ah, this must be it then. You're here to inform me that with your father's passing, my funding has been cut?" His metallic left arm, which was some sort of contraption that looked like it had been stolen straight from a child's arcade claw game, made a snapping motion.

"No. I'm here because I think you can help me."

* * *

><p><em>~Years Later~<em>

* * *

><p>I sat in Wing's cockpit waiting on the sound signifying imminent atmosphere entry when I heard another noise. I glanced at the control panels, currently displaying data being rerouted from the external shuttle into Wing's computer, and saw that it was a proximity alarm.<p>

I pressed a few keys and the visual display honed in on the craft. It appeared to be a human civilian shuttle. I readied my weapons systems. The Alliance wasn't much for subtlety and stealth, but I wanted to be ready in case the shuttle turned out not to be what it appeared. Also, it was an unfortunate fact, but I also wanted to be prepared in case the shuttle decided to take unwanted interest in my shuttle and needed to be taken care of.

The shuttle had yet to open a comm channel to ask why I was not on a registered flight plan, and I was just about to relax when I heard yet another proximity alarm. I glanced at the readout. I muttered a quiet "Damn it." It was a small Alliance carrier, probably carrying two to three mobile suits.

I disengaged the external shuttle, freeing Wing's flight mode. There was no more need for cover with the Alliance already onto me, and I needed the mobility if I was to face Alliance mobile suits. The carrier deployed a suit. I was surprised to note it was a Leo. Why engage in an aerial battle with a ground type mobile suit? I dodged the Leo's first shot, but I underestimated the enemy pilot. They responded with more speed than I anticipated and the second shot clipped the left side of Wing, causing the drive engine on that side to malfunction. The carrier deployed two more suits, Aries models this time, and I knew I would have to depend on firepower more than mobility to win this battle. I pushed the lever and initiated Wing's transformation from flight mode into mobile suit mode.

The Aries suits flew an intercept course and opened fire. I could feel the slight shudder through my Gundam at the impact of rockets and could hear them rain down bullets uselessly against Wing; the staccato sound muffled by my Gundam's exterior. I turned Wing to face the enemy suits, the controls far more unwieldy in suit mode than flight mode, and took aim with my buster rifle.

I pressed the button to fire. The thick yellow-orange beam shot out; electricity flicking into lightning around the blast. The beam engulfed both Aries suits at once. The firepower of the buster rifle was amazing. It was at that moment that I felt a wave of elation as the full realisation hit me. With the help of Wing, I could make a stand against Treize. I found myself laughing due to the anticipation but cut myself short; there was one more suit to deal with.

My weapons system locked onto the Leo and I fired a second shot, but once again the Leo pilot proved their skill with a swift dodge of the beam. The Leo then pulled a beam saber and charged me. I stopped the Leo's attack by gripping its wrist with Wing's hand, but realised too late that the move was a feint. The Leo suit locked around Wing, restricting movement.

I jerked the controls, hearing the straining gears fight against the resistance, but could not budge the Leo. There was nothing I could do at the moment. I would just have to wait and see if an opportunity arose.

A glance at the display and I saw that I was on course to crash in a body of water. I watched as the water loomed ever closer, and I braced myself. The impact was jarring. I was sure that if I had been a mere human I would have never survived. I fought the edges of unconsciousness, and checked the displays. I was in luck. The impact with the water had shook loose the Leo. I hit the hatch release button and undid my harness as water gushed in from the widening opening and swirled around me.

I swam through the hatch and surveyed my surroundings. I was mildly disoriented. I couldn't even tell which way was up; probably an unfortunate result of the harsh impact. Not being able to sense which way was up didn't stop me. Gravity was sure to pull my Gundam down, so I just swam in the opposing direction.

I could feel myself tire and my will began to slip. I sensed the fuzzy greyness of unconsciousness encroach again and was no longer able to fight it. My thoughts and senses faded to black as the disrupted sediment whirled in the eddies around me.

* * *

><p>When I regained consciousness I found myself on a beach. I was not alone. I jerked away from the young human girl and tried to hide my face. I could not have my image reported to any authorities. I didn't want to warn Treize of my involvement too soon.<p>

She seemed to be trying to calm me down, and I heard her mention calling an ambulance just before I heard the sirens of its arrival. There were too many potential witnesses. I had to get away.

I charged toward the EMTs and knocked them out of my way as I headed to the ambulance. I gripped the top of the ambulance as I jumped and shoved both legs through the ambulance side window. The driver seemed frozen in startlement and I wasted no time in shoving him out the opposing door. I gripped the steering wheel, shifted the ambulance into drive, and made my escape.

* * *

><p>Doctor J was somewhat more familiar with human everyday life than I was and he had coached me on ways to blend in as a human of my apparent age. He informed me that I appeared to be a human in his young teens and that other humans of that age would be in schools. So I wasted no time in enrolling myself at a nearby boarding school to develop a cover.<p>

The next morning I was introduced to a bevy of humans. They all were so young, barely more than children. I was momentarily worried if I would even be able to handle blending in with the rest of them. I took a seat and pretended to take notes on the following lecture.

* * *

><p>It was during one of the between-class breaks that I was approached by a gaggle of girls. The one in the lead I recognised as being the girl from the previous evening. She handed me an envelope, saying it was an invitation to a birthday party.<p>

Does she recognise me as the boy who washed ashore yesterday? Does she realise the significance? If she did she could be a liability.

But then again, if she knew who… what I was, would she do something as trivial as invite me to a birthday party?

I tore up the invitation. I had to focus on my mission. I had to focus on stopping Treize. The celebration of the anniversary of yet another human child coming into this world was not worth my time.

I had to prevent this girl from meddling further into my affairs though. If she became a liability I would have to end her existence. I figured threatening her with just such an occurrence would prevent her further involvement.

I walked closer to her, close enough that the rest of the girls would not overhear.

"I'll kill you."

* * *

><p><strong>-x-<strong>

* * *

><p>-Author's Note-<p>

And thus, here is the next installment of this horribly clichéd tripe. Hope you love my guilty pleasure as much as I do. :3

Most of this chapter isn't anything new of course, just POV retelling of episode 1. Don't expect me to go through every episode like this, just big events (such as first meetings). Had planned to go through eps 1 and 2 in this chapter, but ep 1 ended up longer than I thought. So next chapter will start off with episode 2.


	5. Chapter 5

Rating: T

Stuff: I don't own Gundam Wing

Warnings: violence, language, blood drinking

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

I made just enough of a show at the beginning of equestrian class that no one would question my lack of attendance later before finding an unobserved section of the school and scaling the wall to break into a student's dorm room. I wanted to use an internet connection unaffiliated with myself just as an extra precaution, though I was sure they would not be able to trace me.

I used the computer I found in the room to first hack into the Alliance systems, searching for anything I could use. I had to stop the Alliance from getting their hands on Wing, even if I had to resort to destroying my Gundam. I found something that would fit the bill, and then went on to my next task, hacking the school systems.

Once I had all my records cleared as Paid, I turned off the computer and made sure everything was as it was when I arrived. I then left the room and made my way to the Alliance military port to obtain the torpedoes I had picked out just moments before.

* * *

><p>After locating the torpedoes and getting them ready, I then planted bombs around the military port. Activating the bombs would cause chaos and keep the personnel busy, preventing them from interrupting me.<p>

As I was programming the target into the torpedoes, I heard someone call my name. I turned to find the girl Relena once again being where she shouldn't be. I had thought my warning would have been enough, but it seems this human was lacking in the survival instincts department.

I didn't particularly want to kill the young naive human, but this had gone far enough. She was now getting in the way of what I needed to do. I drew my Beretta handgun and aimed it at her.

I was just about to pull the trigger when I heard a gunshot. Even with my reaction time, I was only able to dodge enough to get hit in the arm instead of some place more vital. The bullet stung far more than a bullet should, but that couldn't be. My attacker had to be a random Alliance that just happened upon the scene in the midst of the chaos and shot me, but that didn't explain the pain. It stung like silver. No Alliance would use silver bullets, would they?

I looked over at my attacker. That certainly wasn't any Alliance uniform. It almost resembled a priest habit. Shit. Could it be a hunter? That would just top off my bad luck. The Alliance detects my shuttle on entry, my Gundam gets sunk into the ocean, I have a meddlesome human following me, and a hunter shows up.

I reach for my handgun which I had dropped during the attack, only to get shot again. Though it was at this point that the human girl surprised me. She jumped between the hunter and I, blocking any further shots. Then she proceeded to wrap my injuries to try to stop the bleeding.

I was then surprised even further, Wing broke the surface of the water, being towed by another mobile suit. I didn't recognise the suit with Wing, but at this point it didn't matter; I couldn't let Wing fall into any enemy hands no matter who they were.

I leapt onto the readied torpedoes. The hunter started to fire upon me again. I slammed my fist into the startup key for the torpedoes and let them fly. I saw them arc towards Wing as I fell through the air behind them. I could feel the blood loss hitting me hard. I should have fed while at the boarding school before this mission, but I had incorrectly assumed this would be an easy task. I heard the impact of the torpedoes as I once again fell into the realm of the unconscious.

* * *

><p>I awoke to find myself restrained. A discrete glance around and I could tell I was in the Alliance No. 3 Medical Facility. I couldn't decide what was worse, that I had been captured by the Alliance or that I was in a <em>human<em> hospital.

The existence of vampires was still a staunchly kept secret, and something that under medical evaluation could be discovered. It wasn't often for vampires to end up in the hospital but still many hospitals had one or two vampires on staff secretly to help make unfortunate records "disappear" in the case of a vampire requiring hospital stay. I only hoped there was one here, because I'd have my hands full with simply trying to escape and wouldn't be able to deal with my own records.

I pulled on the restraints with all my strength. The restraints were strong but I was pretty sure I would be able to break them if needed, but then I would still be in a locked and monitored room. I was starting to worry I wouldn't be able to get free when there was a change on one of the nearby monitors. It was the hunter! Did he come here to finish the job?

He was talking into the monitor to allow me to read his lips. I ignored most of his babble until I caught him say he'd help break me out. He came to help me? Why would a hunter help a vampire? Maybe he wasn't a hunter? But then, why would he use silver bullets? Silver bullets certainly weren't standard equipment. Whether he was a hunter or not, if he was set on helping me escape, he seemed to be my only option.

I didn't have to wait long before the wall next to me exploded inward; the maybe-hunter being revealed as the dust settled. I jerked my wrist free from the restraint as he ran over. I had the maybe-hunter give me his knife to remove the rest of the restraints and we quickly left the way he entered.

I was following him through the hallways, assuming that since he got in, he knew the way out, but as we neared a junction in the hallway, instead of making a turn, I saw him make a movement out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to see what he was doing, I saw him toss a grenade at the wall in front of us. I dove to the ground right alongside him, then quickly back up and running as soon as the explosion happened.

I ran to the opening and jumped out. I was astonished to see the maybe-hunter do the same. We were at least 50 storeys up. What was he doing? Humans can't survive a jump that high. The maybe-hunter held up a stick that turned out to be some electric helicopter type contraption to slow his fall. It wasn't until I registered the humans calling me that I remembered I needed to at least attempt to break my fall. Couldn't let them see I could handle a 50 storey fall, no problem.

The landing was a bit rough but nothing I couldn't handle. The maybe-hunter slowly descended beside me. I didn't know if I could trust him, but he did help me out. I decided to continue following him when a boat came by to pick him up.

* * *

><p>We ended up on a salvage vessel. The crew bustled about, some greeting the maybe-hunter as he passed, but seemed to simply ignore my presence. I learned that the maybe-hunter went by the name Duo, and as I observed him I was more and more sure that he wasn't a hunter. I started to think he wasn't even aware I was a vampire, but the more sure I became, the more confused I became by the silver bullets.<p>

I heard a crewman yell, "We've located it!" Duo became excited at this proclamation and yelled back that he would man the winch. It wasn't too much longer before a suit was brought up. It was the same suit I had seen with Wing before. As I got a closer look at it, I could tell that it greatly resembled mine. That and the fact that it had survived the torpedo blast from before made me sure that this suit was a Gundam as well. I eyed Duo. What was he doing with a Gundam? The man just grew more and more confusing.

After unhooking the black suit, the winch cables were lowered once again. I took that time to actually look at Duo. I had been so distracted earlier in trying to decide if he was a hunter and going to attempt to kill me or not I hadn't really looked at the man himself. He wore an outfit that was all black except for a white undershirt that folded up at the sleeves and peaked through at his collar, greatly resembling a priest's collar. He had a thin, lithe figure, and a very striking braid of chestnut hair that reached down to mid-thigh. From my angle, I could just barely make out his eyes. They were an unusual violet color that was currently sparkling with enthusiasm as he focused on his current task.

I heard a splashing noise and looked over to see what was being hoisted out of the water now. I watched as rivulets of water cascaded off Wing as he was slowly being raised.

* * *

><p>Duo offered to have the ship's engineers repair Wing along with his suit but I didn't feel comfortable letting people I was unfamiliar with near my Gundam. I opened the mechanic's panel, bringing out the diagnostic tool and started a scan. Reviewing the results showed that the repairs needed weren't too bad, but I would require a few replacement parts. I started to work on repairing what I could.<p>

A few hours into my repairs I heard a noise from the cockpit. I jogged over and jumped into the pilot's seat, quickly bringing up the display. I had a mission. Wing wasn't even repaired yet, how was I suppose to pull off a mission? An image of the black mobile suit flash through my mind and I suddenly had a plan.

* * *

><p>I worked late into the night. The engineer's working on Duo's suit slowly retired one by one to their rooms leaving only Duo and I remaining. I kept waiting on him to leave for the night as well but the longer I waited, the less that seemed likely.<p>

Eventually I noticed a general lack of sound coming from the other side of the hangar. I quietly made my way over. I found Duo face-planted next to an open plating of his Gundam, obviously fallen asleep mid-repair. I quietly got to work taking the parts I'd need to repair Wing from his mobile suit. I hoped he wouldn't wake until I was done.

I could feel that it was a few hours before dawn by the time I finished repairing Wing. I was just about to hop in and head for my mission when I paused. I glanced back in the direction that I knew Duo was in, even though he was hidden by the black mobile suit at this angle.

I slowly made my way over to his side of the hangar once again, and worked my way around to where he was. I watched him, half cross-legged sitting and half slumped forward against the mobile suit. His breathing was the slow, steady breaths of deep sleep. He had slightly drooled against the Gundam plating.

I inched closer. Paying close attention to his breathing or any other signs of him waking. I sat behind him and slowly slid one hand between him and the Gundam. I manoeuvered him to leaning against me. I tilted his head to the side, and pushed down the priest-like collar, revealing a smooth expanse of creamy skin. I leaned forward and as gently as I could, sank my fangs into that tantalising skin.

I reveled in the sweet warmth I drank from Duo. It seemed vaguely familiar, but I eventually gave up trying to place why. I had to focus more on restraint. It had been far too long since I had last fed, and with losing blood on top of that, it was difficult to not be greedy, but I managed. Duo would awaken lightheaded and feeling weak, but I had avoided drinking until his death.

I licked the small puncture wounds to trigger the accelerated healing. At this point Duo would be too out of it, so I had no fear of awakening him. I moved myself into a crouch, looped one arm under his legs, and lifted him up. He was lighter than I expected, even considering the lithe form. I carried Duo over to a clear, flat surface and laid him down. I then rushed over to Wing's cockpit and dug out the blanket from my emergency supply, bringing it back to where I had laid Duo to rest. I draped the blanket over him, pulling it up to his chin. It wouldn't be as comfortable as a bed by far, but would certainly be an improvement over his half hunched against a Gundam sleep from before.

I then made my way over to Wing and started my pre-flight checks. I had a mission to perform.

* * *

><p><strong>-x-<strong>

* * *

><p>-Author's Note-<p>

It's so wrong, but I giggle when the first thing Duo does when he sees Wing for the first time is stick Deathscythe's scythe shaft into Wing's backside port. Some Deathscythe x Wing action at first meeting. :3

I don't know handguns in the slightest. I actually did a bit of a Google search and compared pictures and kinda guessed on a manufacturer based on similarities. I don't know if Heero's gun even is a real model in the first place, but if I got it wrong, please tell me. (As a sidenote, I think Duo's gun is a Browning.)

Also: ZOMG DUO'S HERE! SQUEEEE~!


	6. Chapter 6

Rating: T

Stuff: I don't own Gundam Wing

Warnings: language, blood drinking, hetero-situations

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

It wasn't difficult to sneak past the hall monitor and make my way into the moonlit night. I had chosen a school just on the borders of a small city this time so I wouldn't have to risk feeding in such a confined location as a boarding school. I wasn't familiar with this city, but the light pollution seemed greater in an area to the south, so I headed that direction.

It didn't take me long to reach the city's nightlife district. The bass from the clubs thrummed the artificial heartbeat of the city. The Hunger burned within me.

I wandered the district for awhile, familiarising myself with the more populated establishments. It was as I was making my second pass that my prey came to me.

"Hey, cutie!" I turned at the call to see two girls standing behind me. One had artfully wavy blonde hair that flowed past her shoulders and was wearing a metallic pink dress that barely reached mid-thigh and looked like it had been painted on. It had a large flower-shaped cut out centered on her upper hip that spanned from her navel to her back. The other girl had vaguely Asian features and short black hair styled in an asymmetrical cut that only reached her ear on the left but swept past her chin on the right. She was wearing a black dress that had fabric straps designed like a collar and more straps crisscrossing across her collar bones. Just above her breasts the straps connected with fabric that billowed downward, drooping to just above her navel, granting the bare minimum of modesty.

The one wearing metallic pink continued to address me. "Looks like you're here by yourself. It'd be such a shame for a cutie like you to be lonely." Her companion simply giggled.

"You may accompany me if you wish," I said before turning and starting to head off. I could hear the two girls following me. I lead them to an alley I had noted on my first pass through the district. I had figured the girls would hesitate on following me into the dim, deserted space, but they continued. Their giggling increased the deeper into the alley we went.

They even followed me around a corner of the alley, ending up in a location where not even a random passerby could chance seeing us. I turned to them and saw that the one with short black hair was just behind me and coming closer. She actually pressed her body against mine, pinning me against the wall and latched her lips onto mine. In my surprise I barely even heard the blonde giggle and mutter, "I've never fucked someone in an alley before." She then continued a bit louder, "Hey! Aiko! Don't hog the hottie!"

The girl kissing me backed off and I decided to stop this before the blonde could make her move. "Hey," I called lightly, but it was enough to cause both girls to make eye contact with me. I felt the slight surge of power as I invoked a glamour, "You will be still and quiet." Their eyes glazed over and they both simply stood there staring at me.

I made a quick glance around, to double check there were no witnesses before closing the distance between the short-haired girl and myself once again. My fangs pierced the delicate skin just above the swatch of cloth shaped like a collar. I drank of her life. Her pulse thrummed a steady beat against my lips as the city's pulse thrummed in the air around me.

I stopped before the point of causing her to lose consciousness and then moved onto the blonde. When I was finished, I stepped back enough to make eye contact with both girls at once. I once again invoked a glamour. "You will go back to where we met, and you will forget ever meeting me."

I watched as both girls quietly shambled off, back towards the main road. I found myself in a state of introspection. The Hunger's demand had been silenced, so why didn't I feel sated?

* * *

><p>I was in my dorm room researching nearby OZ locations in preparation for my next mission when I heard the door open. I glanced up to note that it was only Duo. He had been acting like we were friends, and it had only gotten worse when we did a mission together. That is, if by together you mean we both knew we were going after the same target, both showed up at roughly the same time, and both completed the mission. He had even tried to make a game of it.<p>

Duo fell backwards onto my bed before rolling onto his stomach to face me, chin propped up by his palms. "Did I mention how much of a dick move that was, pretending like you were gonna shoot me instead of just ya know, warnin' me 'bout the Leo behind me?" My eyes flicked to him before settling back on my laptop screen. The words were antagonistic but his tone and expression were both what I could only call "deviously amused".

I pretended to ignore him, and as usual, he pretended to ignore me pretending to ignore him. "Woulda never guessed Mr. Anti-Social had a sense of humor though. You should definitely use it more often."

He rolled onto his back again. His braid slid off the bed, making a light thwump noise on the carpeted floor. "Have the b-ball guys been buggin' ya too? They keep tryin' ta get me to join the team. Been having trouble brushing 'em off. Can't exactly say 'Sorry, I'm only gonna be in this school 'til I've wiped out too many ozzies in the area, then I gotta skedaddle.'" He chuckled. "Could ya imagine having to call in to miss practice? 'Sorry, guys. Can't make it today. Gotta go all "IT'S A GUNDAM!" on some ozzie ass.'"

"Duo, you're not even making sense." I almost winced when I remembered I was suppose to be pretending to ignore him.

"Ah, come on. Don't tell me you haven't noticed that people who are all yellin' 'bout there bein' a gundam are generally the first to get creamed." He grinned jovially but his eyes had a slightly evil glint in them. I merely rolled my eyes and then internally chided myself for once again giving him some form of response.

* * *

><p>Duo had been once again demonstrating his ability to carry on a mostly one-sided conversation for hours on end while I did my best to be oblivious towards him until I finally noticed that he was being unusually quiet. I glanced up from my computer screen and saw he seemed to be asleep on my bed. He had rolled onto his side and slightly curled inward. His braid still hung half off the bed.<p>

I stood and walked the few paces to the bed. Sure enough, he had fallen asleep. Can't the guy go sleep in his own bed? I was just about to turn back to my desk when my eyes slid from his sleeping face to a few inches lower. His head was rested flat against the bed, making his neck stretch in an almost invitation.

I felt an influx of something. It was almost like the Hunger, and yet not. This was more of an urge whereas the Hunger was a demand. I had fed just the night before. I didn't expect the Hunger to return for at least a week or two at the earliest. So what was this feeling?

I knelt by the bed. I moved my face near that alluring expanse of skin. I paused for only a moment to really consider what I was doing, this would be the first time I would feed without the demand of the Hunger. Then I caught the scent and my mind lost that train of thought. My face was a mere inch from Duo's throat and I breathed deep. I nearly melted at the alluring aroma and I felt a spike of the strange feeling that was similar to and yet not Hunger. I could only assume it wasn't the Hunger but Duo himself that was causing this urge.

I opened my mouth and once again sank my fangs into his tender flesh. His nose wrinkled and I felt a thread of either fear or excitement, I wasn't entirely sure, at the prospect of him waking and my being discovered until my fang's natural analgesic kicked in and his face relaxed once again. When the first drops of crimson liquid hit my tongue I nearly moaned. A more luscious taste I had never before experienced. I must have been too far under the effects of the Hunger the first time to notice, but I had no such distraction this time. I took my time and drank slowly, savoring every moment. The exquisite taste of the flowing liquid on my tongue while my nostrils filled with Duo's tantalizing scent. I was in heaven.

I forced myself to stop long before I truly wanted to and caressed the puncture marks with my tongue to induce healing. I couldn't help myself and found myself nuzzling Duo's neck to get one last experience with his captivating fragrance. It was that action that eventually awoke him. I quickly jumped to my feet, putting distance between us. He turned his upper half to face me and blinked a sleepy-eyed look at me. "Ro?"

I decided to try to act natural until I knew exactly what he was aware of. "You are going to get cold if you sleep like that."

"Oh… k…" He yawned whiled using one foot and then the other to kick his boots off his feet. I gave an internal sigh of relief. It seemed I had no explanations I had to come up with.

I helped him manoeuver the blanket from underneath him and pulled it up to cover him. He mumbled a quiet "Night, Ro" before curling back up to fall asleep. I shook my head at the now blanket pile with just a braid tip sticking out as I headed back to sit at my desk.

I watched him sleep while in quiet contemplation. The sun reached her rosy fingers over the horizon and I had yet to figure out just what the hell that new urge was.

* * *

><p><strong>-x-<strong>

* * *

><p>-Author's Note-<p>

The best part about purposely setting out to write clichéd tripe is I can make it as clichéd as I want. :D

Back to having real dialogue! ^-^ (Well, as dialogue-y as Heero can be :P) The last two chapters I was trying to make as close as possible to the episodes that any dialogue probably would have been direct quotes, and I felt that was a bit overkill. (Though, the things Duo says to Heero get a slant towards the ironic when placed in this context. "Why don't you give up and stop _pretending_ to be human?" "Well excuse me for being a mere mortal!" :3)

Trying not to counteract anything expressly shown/stated in the anime is more work than I expected. . Pretty sure I've only changed really small things, such as the last chapter scene from episode 4, Duo falls asleep in a room full of guys instead of against his Gundam, but this story was sorely lacking in blood drinking for a vampire story, and I didn't want their "moment" to be in a room full of guys. :P

I really need to go review what can or can't be in a rated T story. May need to bump up the rating just to not worry about what content can be included.


End file.
